Simplified vs Standard Tax Invoice in Saudi Arabia: Clearance, Reporting and the 24-Hour Rule

In Saudi Arabia, a simplified tax invoice and a standard tax invoice are not the same document with different titles. Under ZATCA's e-invoicing rules they follow different paths once your business is in Phase 2 (Integration): standard tax invoices must be cleared by ZATCA before the buyer sees them, and simplified tax invoices go to the customer first and must be reported to Fatoora within 24 hours. This guide explains when each type applies, what clearance and reporting mean, and how the 24-hour rule works day to day.

The short answer

• Standard tax invoice (usually B2B/B2G): issued with the buyer's details, cleared by ZATCA in real time before you share it, and stamped by the Authority.
• Simplified tax invoice (usually B2C): issued for consumer sales (and optionally for some small B2B supplies under SAR 1,000), given to the customer immediately with a QR code, stamped by your solution, and reported to Fatoora within 24 hours.
• Clearance is not reporting: clearance validates and stamps standard invoices before the buyer; reporting uploads already-issued simplified invoices afterward.
• The 24-hour clock starts at generation of the simplified invoice, not at end of day or month-end.

What Is a Simplified Tax Invoice under ZATCA?

ZATCA's Detailed Guidelines for E-Invoicing define a simplified tax invoice as the electronic form of the simplified tax invoice under Article 53(7)/(8) of the VAT Implementing Regulation. It is generally issued for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions and does not usually include the buyer's details.

Two practical points matter for SMEs:

• B2C sales of any value can use a simplified tax invoice. The SAR 1,000 figure is not a B2C cap.
• Optional for some B2B: you may issue a simplified tax invoice for a B2B supply when the value of taxable supplies is less than SAR 1,000. That limit applies only when you choose simplified for B2B; it does not restrict B2C.

Buyer details can still be required in special cases. ZATCA notes that buyer details may be needed for private education and private healthcare services to Saudi citizens, which have special VAT treatment.

In Phase 2, a compliant simplified tax invoice must be generated as XML or PDF/A-3 with embedded XML, stamped with your unit's Cryptographic Stamp Identifier (CSID), and carry a Phase 2 QR code (nine tags in TLV Base64). You present a printed copy to the buyer immediately (or another agreed electronic or human-readable form), then submit the XML to Fatoora for reporting within 24 hours of generation.

What Is a Standard Tax Invoice under ZATCA?

A standard tax invoice (often called a Tax Invoice in ZATCA materials) is the electronic form of the tax invoice under Article 53 of the VAT Implementing Regulation. ZATCA's guidelines say these are generally issued for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government transactions, with seller and buyer information and the fields in Annex 2 of the E-Invoicing Implementation Resolution.

In Phase 2, standard tax invoices must be generated as XML or PDF/A-3 with embedded XML and submitted in XML to Fatoora for clearance before you share them with the buyer. If validation passes, Fatoora clears the invoice by adding ZATCA's cryptographic stamp and QR code and returns the cleared XML. You then share the cleared invoice with the buyer as XML or PDF/A-3 with embedded XML.

Clearance does not apply to simplified tax invoices. That split is explicit in ZATCA's definitions of clearance and reporting.

Clearance vs Reporting: The Two Phase 2 Paths

Once your wave is live on Phase 2, every e-invoice follows one of two integration models. ZATCA's Detailed Guidelines and the Implementation Resolution set them out as follows.

Clearance (standard tax invoices and their credit/debit notes)

1. Your EGS generates the XML.
2. You submit it to Fatoora before sharing with the buyer.
3. Fatoora validates the document against ZATCA standards.
4. If accepted, ZATCA inserts its cryptographic stamp and QR and returns the cleared XML.
5. Only then do you share the cleared invoice with the buyer.
6. If rejected, you fix the errors and submit a new document with its own hash and counter value. Do not reuse the rejected document's hash and counter.

Reporting (simplified tax invoices and their credit/debit notes)

1. Your EGS generates the XML, stamps it with your CSID, and builds the nine-tag QR.
2. You give the invoice to the customer immediately (print, or agreed electronic/human-readable form).
3. You submit the XML (not PDF/A-3) to Fatoora within 24 hours of generation.
4. Fatoora validates and returns an API acknowledgement: accepted, accepted with warnings, or rejected.
5. ZATCA does not stamp simplified documents on the platform; your solution already stamped them.

The E-invoicing Detailed Technical Guideline repeats the same reporting flow and stresses that the seller must include its cryptographic stamp and QR in the submission.

The 24-Hour Rule for Simplified Tax Invoices

Clause Second of the Implementation Resolution says simplified tax invoices and their associated notes must be reported to the Authority within a period that must not exceed 24 hours from generation, once your integration obligation applies. The Detailed Guidelines use the same wording: transmit all simplified tax invoices to the FATOORA Portal within 24 hours from issuance.

What that means in practice:

• Clock starts at generation. The deadline is tied to when the simplified invoice was generated, not to when you close the till or file VAT.
• Customer first, ZATCA second. Unlike clearance, you do not wait for ZATCA before handing over the receipt.
• XML only for the API. Human-readable print or PDF for the customer is fine; the report to Fatoora is the XML.
• Queues matter. If the store, van or POS is offline, the solution should keep the invoice and retry when connectivity returns. Annex 1 of the Resolution requires the ability to queue when offline and report after the connection is re-established.

ZATCA's failure-scenario guidance in the Detailed Guidelines describes a supermarket that must report within 24 hours and should keep retrying if Fatoora is temporarily unavailable. For longer local outages (for example a van with no signal past 24 hours), the guidance says the taxpayer should notify ZATCA via the dedicated form, then report once connection is restored. Treat those steps as operational practice from ZATCA's educational materials, and confirm the current notification process on zatca.gov.sa if you face a real outage.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Use this table when you train staff or check whether your software routes each sale correctly.

Credit and Debit Notes Follow the Same Split

Credit and debit notes follow the type of the original invoice. A note against a standard tax invoice goes through clearance; a note against a simplified tax invoice goes through reporting, including the 24-hour window. Notes must reference the original invoice(s) and state the reason for issuance, as required under Article 54 of the VAT Implementing Regulation and Annex 2 of the Resolution.

Hypothetical Shop Floor Examples

These examples are hypothetical illustrations based on ZATCA's published flows; they are not advice for a specific taxpayer.

Pharmacy counter (simplified / reporting). A walk-in customer buys medicines. The POS issues a simplified tax invoice with QR, prints the receipt, and completes the sale. Overnight the central system reports every till's XML files to Fatoora. As long as each invoice is reported within 24 hours of generation, the 24-hour rule is met.

Wholesaler delivery (standard / clearance). A VAT-registered retailer receives stock. The wholesaler's system builds a standard tax invoice XML, calls Fatoora for clearance, receives the stamped XML with ZATCA's QR, then emails PDF/A-3 with embedded XML to the buyer. Sharing before clearance would break the clearance model.

Optional small B2B simplified invoice. Two VAT-registered traders settle a SAR 800 taxable supply and agree to use a simplified tax invoice because the value is under SAR 1,000. That document still follows reporting and the 24-hour rule, not clearance.

What Your Software Must Do Differently for Each Type

Phase 2 is not only "send everything to ZATCA." Your E-Invoice Generation Solution (EGS) must choose the correct API path per document type, as summarised in the Detailed Technical Guideline and Annex 1 of the Resolution:

• Real-time clearance submission and response handling for standard tax invoices and notes.
• Near-real-time reporting within 24 hours for simplified tax invoices and notes, with offline queuing.
• CSID-based stamping and nine-tag QR generation for simplified documents.
• Use of the QR and stamp returned by ZATCA for cleared standard documents.
• UUID, previous-invoice hash, and a counter that never resets across the unit's sequence.

For onboarding units and CSIDs on Fatoora, see our ZATCA Phase 2 requirements checklist. For how Generation and Integration differ overall, see ZATCA Phase 1 vs Phase 2.

How Raad ERP Helps

Raad ERP is a cloud ERP for trading, van sales, retail and manufacturing businesses in the GCC. For Saudi Arabia it covers ZATCA Phase 1 and Phase 2: every invoice and receipt carries the required QR code, and Phase 2 invoices are sent to ZATCA automatically in the background once your units are onboarded.

Shops can add Raad POS so tills print ZATCA receipts and feed sales into the same system, with Phase 2 reporting running through Raad ERP. When you migrate, the team imports products, customers and opening balances and trains your staff. See Raad ERP for the feature list.

Need help picking the right invoice path?

Tell us whether most of your volume is B2C receipts, B2B clearances, or both, and how many devices issue invoices. We will map simplified vs standard flows for your setup.

WhatsApp "ZATCA" to +971 56 102 1565 and we'll reply quickly.

Selling in the UAE too? Different rules apply. Read UAE E-Invoicing 2027 Made Simple.

This article is general information only and is not legal, tax or professional advice. Regulations, including ZATCA, UAE Ministry of Finance and FTA requirements, change often, and this content may be incomplete, out of date or contain errors. Before you act on it, check with the official authority (ZATCA in Saudi Arabia, or the Ministry of Finance or Federal Tax Authority in the UAE) or a qualified tax adviser. Raad ERP makes no warranties about the accuracy or completeness of this content and accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on it. Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience and are not endorsements.